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Árbol del Sol
Thought for the Month The SunTree Traveler
Another good weekend at Faywood Hot Springs There was an incident that happened to me at Faywood that got me thinking of how we as a club are perceived when we go to a confined location such as Faywood (the confining is mostly at pools). I am not sure that any of our members are guilty of any of these, but I wanted to mention them “just in case” so that we are not considered an unruly mob to be avoided. On the back of the newsletter, we have the standard statement about taking two towels and bathing before leaving home so that you do not pollute the swimming pool or hot tub of our event hosts. That is probably a more important thing when we go to a place like Faywood Hot Springs when there are so many of us in a pool at the same time. I thought of that one day when I visited the hot springs (after our Valentine’s Day event) on a mid-week day. I got there early and enjoyed the pool. Soon after I arrived, the staff came in and drained and cleaned the pools in the clothing optional area. You all know how beautiful those pools are when they are sparkling clean. A half hour later, two women came in with several children around kindergarten or first grade age. The kids were very well behaved and were obviously having a good time. I, however, had some problems with the ladies who brought them. As soon as the group arrived, the ladies slathered on gobs of sunscreen on each child. Naturally, as soon as each child was thoroughly basted, they went into the pool successfully washing off all of the sunscreen. The sparkling clean water was milky within an hour and the children were no longer protected. That should have been put on prior to leaving home for protection from both sunburn and pollution. I do not know if any SunTree folks oil themselves up, but be aware that the pools are not self cleaning. Non-water drinks (soft drinks, mixes, beer, wine) that get spilled also turn the soaking pools into unattractive vats. Keep your drinks far away from the pools. Another item (while I am harping) that we all are aware of is the annoyance of wandering dogs. Our club has been a victim often of unfettered dogs, most of the time happy and playful, but you can never know if you do not know the dog. We all know that the SunTree dogs are very civilized and docile. In fact, some of our two legged members probably need leashes more than the dogs. We know that our dogs will not cause harm, but we also should know that when we share the camping are with others who have dogs and those others see that we do not leash our dogs, then they probably do not have to either. That causes us problems as well as the other campers. I know that it is painful for our four-legged members, but please keep them on a leash when they are outside. Ski Weekend with the SunTree Gang The mountain had great snow on most of the slopes, though there were only eight of the double black diamond runs open. All of the beginner and intermediate runs were open and most of the advanced trails had wonderful snow conditions. SunTree is looking forward to yet another successful ski event in 2007 where we might double or even triple our club participation.
March Club Doings Green Weekend in Alamogordo The hot tub will be cranking away and the way that our winter has been going so far, it will probably be too warm for a fireplace. In that case you can pretend to be a traditional green lizard on a rock next to the yet-to-be-opened swimming pool.
Two Eclipses This Month, but the Lunatics Lose Out This Time The solar eclipse on 29 March will be total on the coast of Ghana into Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Libya and the Libya/Egypt border, the Mediterranean, Turkey and Central Asia. The greatest eclipse will be four minutes, 7 seconds in southern Libya. The whole of Europe, eastern Asia and most of Africa will see a partial eclipse. This should be exciting, so book your tour to Africa at this time. We have some SunTree travelers in Africa, but I think that their schedule takes them south of the path of totality. Mercury finishes its outstanding evening appearance during the first week of March, but it is much less bright than it was in February. Venus is dazzling, but not very high, in the predawn eastern sky. Mars is still bright but fading. It will be high in the west this month. It will fade to the point that it will look like the twin of close-by Aldebaran. The Moon will be just to the right of Mars on the evening of 5 March. Saturn is still out most of the night. Saturn will be shinning brightly high in the southeastern sky this month moving into the southern sky as the month progresses. Jupiter now rises before midnight. The gibbous Moon will be well to the right of Jupiter around 10:30 the night 18 March. The vernal equinox brings the start of spring on 20 March at 11:26 am MST. By the next evening, North Americans will see the Moon as a smiling crescent directly above sunset.
© 2004 SunTree Travel Club - Site updated Summer 2008 |
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What Happened in February